


Burden

by chasu



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drabble, Friendship, Gen, Injury, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 16:56:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5098247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasu/pseuds/chasu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"<i>Excuse</i> me?“</p><p>"My back.” Kanji sets his hands on his hips, elbows at an angle and forearms ready to support her legs. “Get on,” he says over his shoulder, “or I’ll pick you up and carry you myself.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burden

 " _What_  did you just say?“

   Naoto stands her ground because the blood dripping from between her fingers leaves her little choice. Even then, it’s less standing than half-crouching, her hobble leaving her peering up, clutching the ripped knee of her uniform trousers. "Kanji-kun?”

   Teddie and Souji are still conferring privately, not too far away but far enough that Naoto has to strain to eavesdrop. She thinks she hears  _straight to the exit_ and,  _can’t fight like this_.

_Looks really bad, Sensei._

_We’ll come back tomorrow._

   It had just slipped out in the midst of the pain and disappointment,  _with these injuries, I’m nothing but a_ –

   "Nothing but a burden? Is that it?“ Kanji rounds on her like she isn’t crouched and bleeding. She grits her teeth and bites back something about kicking a man when he’s down. "Was that what you thought last week, when Teddie keeled over and Senpai had to walk him out?”

   The rest of the group fall into hushed silence, Teddie and Souji watching them intently, eyes darting from Kanji down to Naoto and back again. Teddie’s bottom lip shows the slightest hint of a wobble, his expression ten shades closer to hurt than the anxiety it had been hovering at while he was explaining that his magic was all tapped out and Naoto would have to cope with the injury until Yukiko could get her healing hands on it.

   She shakes her head, almost displacing her hat. “Of course not.”

   That isn’t good enough for Kanji. “Then what makes you the burden? Huh?” Souji takes a quick step forward, ready to interrupt, and Naoto is grateful in the split-second before Kanji turns around, facing the opposite wall and demands, “Get on my back.”  

   There’s a long moment of silence, and then she thinks she hears one of the others start to giggle, but she can’t tear her eyes away to ascertain which one. She stares, her mouth dropping open as Kanji shrugs his uniform jacket off and ties it around his waist, and then bends his knees.  

   " _Excuse_  me?“

   "My back.” Kanji sets his hands on his hips, elbows at an angle and forearms ready to support her legs. “Get on,” he says over his shoulder, “or I’ll pick you up and carry you myself.”

   "I…” As much as Naoto wants to hesitate, the pain is radiating out in waves and every inch of her body is screaming at her to sit down and take the pressure off. Blood pitter-patters onto the ground beneath her. She has to sigh, and acquiesce. “Alright, but only as far as the entrance. Yukiko-san can patch me up when we reach her.”

   At last, Souji does step forward. He looks more bemused than she’s ever seen him, offers his arm to support her as she clambers onto Kanji’s back. She leaves a few red smears in her wake, settling her arms over Kanji’s shoulders and wrapping her legs around his waist as much as she can. There are winces and hushed  _ow_ s every other second, but eventually she manages it and Kanji straightens up, supporting her weight with unsurprising ease. He doesn’t even grunt.

   "It’s too late for that,“ Kanji tells her, a rare smile in his voice. "You’re on, now there’s no gettin’ off. I’ll carry you all the way back to town.”

   Teddie and Souji have already started the long walk back towards the entrance. Kanji falls into step behind them, and the jostling from Naoto’s position is unpleasant, but definitely preferable to walking. She tries to peer over his shoulder at them; Teddie glances back and gives her a swift thumbs-up.

   "Please don’t do that," she says. Her height means that she’s talking into Kanji’s t-shirt. "What would they say about me at the police department, if they saw us?”

   " _I_  think they’d say,  _Aw, Nao-chan, where’d you get such a big, strrrrong man to carry you around like that? Where can I get one?_ “ Teddie pipes up, attempting to deepen his voice for the impersonation. It gets a laugh out of Souji; Naoto watches the tips of Kanji’s ears go pink with a blush.

   "I’m sure that that is the last thing they would say,” she points out. Giving up on straining her back, she rests her head on Kanji’s shoulder, closes her eyes against the harsh lighting of Magatsu Inaba and adds, softly, “Thank you, though.”

   "No problem,“ Kanji replies just as softly, still watching straight ahead. "Just don’t say that shit about yourself again, alright?”

   Naoto tightens her hold around his neck, hoisting herself up from her slump with a huff of exertion she hopes he doesn’t hear. “It wasn’t an admission of insecurity, Kanji-kun. It’s an objective fact: if not for me, the team would’ve kept going.”

   Kanji snorts. “Yeah, and if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have gotten this far to begin with.”

   He has a point, but she doesn’t tell him so. She rests, her forehead against his neck, and watches from the corner of her eye as they pass the hole in the ground; Souji guides them around the backs of hungry and distracted shadows; the staircase comes into view. One floor out from Yukiko. The bleeding feels like it’s almost stopped, but it’s hard to tell when the fabric all around the wound is soaked and saturated already.

   Her leg still hurts, but it’s a lot easier to cope with when she’s surrounded by her team – partially because one of them is physically supporting her, and partially because she’d rather be eaten alive by shadows than cry in front of them. 

   A few feet in front, Teddie clears his throat and… sways. Once, to the left, his staggering barely noticeable considering how wobbly his steps look at the best of times, his centre of gravity always unsteady because of his shape.

   He turns his whole body in his effort to glance at Souji, who is looking the other way. Teddie frowns, and stumbles again, to the other side this time and much more dramatically. He almost trips over a loose newspaper sheet as he deliberately bumps into Souji’s side.

   Souji continues not to notice, and puts his hands in his pockets. Naoto grins, privately, against the back of Kanji’s shirt; she knows jealousy when she sees it.  

   Teddie looks back at her again, deepens his frown, and finally pokes Souji in the arm. “Hey, Sensei?” he whines. “My legs are kinda tired…”

   “Maybe next time, Teddie,” Souji says, and doesn’t break his stride as they start on the stairs.

**Author's Note:**

> i never took naoto and kanji into the tv together during my playthrough. when i heard naoto's line about being a burden, i immediately knew that was a mistake.


End file.
